William II, King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg(William Frederick George Louis) (December 6, 1792 – March 17, 1849) ruled from October 7, 1840 until his death.

He was born in The Hague, the son of King William I of the Netherlands and Queen Wilhelmina, princess of Prussia. His maternal grandparents were Frederick William II of Prussia and his second wife Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt. When William was three he and his family fled to England after allied British-Hanoverian mercenaries left the Republic and entering French troops joined the anti-orangist Patriots. William spent his youth in Berlin at the Prussian court. There he followed a military education and served in the Prussian army. Afterwards he studied at the University of Oxford.

Military serviceHe entered the British Army, and in 1811, as aide-de-camp to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, took part in several campaigns of the Peninsular War. He returned to the Netherlands in 1813 when his father became sovereign prince. In 1815 William became crown prince and he took service in the army when Napoleon I of France escaped from Elba. He fought as commander of the Dutch-Belgian forces at the Battle of Quatre Bras (June 16) and the Battle of Waterloo (June 18), where he was wounded. He showed personal courage and energy, but frequently displayed atrocious military judgement, leading to many heavy casualties. The Duke of Wellington attributed this to his lack of command experience, however, rather than to him being a bad leader.

Anna Pavlovna of Russia (18 January1795, Saint Petersburg - 1 March1865, The Hague) was Queen of the Netherlands.She was born as the eighth child and sixth daughter of Paul I of Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna (born Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg), and thus was Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia. In the Netherlands, due to 19th century Dutchtransliteration conventions, she is better known as Anna Paulowna.

She was a younger sister to Alexander I of Russia; Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich, Viceroy of Poland; Alexandra Pavlovna, Archduchess of Austria; Elena Pavlovna, Hereditary Princess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; Maria Pavlovna, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach; Catherine Pavlovna, Queen of Württemberg; and Olga Pavlovna, who died as a child. She was also an older sister to Nicholas I of Russia and Michael Pavlovich.

The couples second son was Prince Willem Alexander Frederik Constantijn Nicolaas Michiel (Soestdijk Palace 2 Aug 1818- Mantua [per one source] or Madeira [per another] 20 Feb 1848). He was considered one of the marriage candidates for Queen Victoria of Great Britain, but he sadly died too young, due to a cold that he acquired when a tree fell on his coach and he had to walk (that was the strory at least).

For now this wikipedia article will do but the Prince will get a thread of his own soon. Note btw that the present Grand Duke off Luxembourg was named after this Prince Hendrik, who was a stadholder in Luxembourg, for his elder brother.

Prince Willem Alexander Ernst Frederik Casimir (Brussels [per one source] or Soestdijk [per another] 21 May 1822-Brussels 22 Oct 1822) was the fourth son of the couple, sadly he died only a few months after his birth. It is unclear where exactly the little Prince died.

The Princess soon left for Weimar but the relations with her Dutch relatives remained close. The Princess and her family will get a thread of her own soon where more pictures and information can be shared.